Authorised meat vendors seek security, write to Home Minister

A pregnant elephant in Kerala ate a pineapple, which was filled with country-made bombs or dynamites. It led to a painful death as the elephant was pregnant and died standing in the Velliyar River in Palakkad in Kerala. People are venting out their anger and concerns all over social media about the gruesome incident.

Yesterday, it was reported that the pregnant elephant was killed after locals allegedly fed her a pineapple stuffed with crackers.

However, when International Business Times, India, reached out to Dr Ab Qayoom, who is an Indian Forest Service Officer, for his comments about what actually must have happened, we got to know that no one have fed the pineapple to the elephant.

Snares used for keeping animals away

Dr Qayoom stated that pineapples filled with firecrackers are used as a snare for catching wild boars. He said, "No one would have fed the pineapple to the elephant. The animal must have found it lying somewhere and must have consumed it herself not knowing what lies ahead for her."

He also stated a second possibility. He said, "Some people actually do such insane things as they consider wild animals as a threat to their property and life. Such incidents do happen at places where wild animals create problems for human beings."

Snares are often found around farms, coffee plantations

He added that wild boars often spoil crops and people use snares as a way to protect their farms and crops. This year, it was reported that the government would soon permit farmers with licensed firearms to shoot wild boars that wander into their lands. The problem is that people do not limit their snares to only wild boars and there have been several incidents when tigers, leopards and other animals have fallen prey to these haphazardly placed snares around farms, coffee farms and wildlife corridors.

Elephant kept standing in water before dying

The pregnant wild elephant originally belonged to Silent Valley National Park (SVNP), Palakkad. As the elephant died, she remained calm despite being in excruciating pain. The elephant kept standing and died at Velliyar River, Malappuram, with its trunk in the water.

The elephant was 15-years-old and was probably getting some relief as it stood in the water after her tongue and mouth exploded. Mohan Krishnan, Section Forest Officer, Nilambur, shared the sad incident on his Facebook page where he had acted as the Rapid Response Team official to rescue the elephant, which was in distress.

When a postmortem examination was carried out, it was learnt that the reason for the elephant's death was due to asphyxia where water had got into her lungs and trachea. Dr David Abraham, Assistant Forest Veterinary Officer, Thrissur, carried out the postmortem.

Dr David said, "I have so far done more than 250 postmortems of elephants alone in my more than two decades career. But this was the first time I was so moved as I could hold the foetus of the baby in my hands. Initially, none of us was aware that the elephant was pregnant. After seeing her heart, I spotted the amniotic fluid and realized that she was pregnant."

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Udupi, Mar 31: Six people have committed suicide since liquor shops were shut down during a lockdown here to break the chain of the novel coronavirus.

Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha said in a statement here, "After continuous suicides out of depression over not being able to buy alcohol, the district administration decided to hold counselling sessions to such people.

"The district administration has appointed a team of Doctors for counselling. Anyone who needs counselling can call 1077 toll-free number," he added.

Bengaluru,  Jun 19: Following the coronavirus outbreak, Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport has introduced ultraviolet treatment while scanning outbound baggage apart from other measures to enhance passenger and staff safety.

"Two custom-designed UV tunnels have been created to disinfect trolleys after every use. Two custom-designed UV tunnels have been created to disinfect trolleys after every use. These Tunnels are located at a cordoned-off area of the Terminal," according to a statement by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).

The airport plans to use an ultra-low volume (ULV) spray treatment for check-in bags: all outbound passenger baggage is sanitised before dispatch to the aircraft

Authorities also plan to minimise use of additional trays for footwear by introducing specially designed trays; the trays that are in use are UV treated and sanitised manually after every use.

Officials are currently in the process of implementing silver nano-coating for frequently used touchpoints for self disinfection like check-in counters, Immigration counters, ATRS trays, etc. Currently, sanitisation of high-traffic areas and frequently touched surfaces continues to be done every thirty minutes manually without disrupting the flow of passengers.

All high-traffic areas are sanitised once every three hours by using ULV machines - eight times in 24 hours.

Washrooms across the Airport premises are sanitised on a regular basis with dedicated manpower, irrespective of the frequency of use. 456 units of tabletop hand sanitiser and 107 units of sensor-based hand sanitisers have been placed across the Terminal.

120 biowaste bins located across the Airport campus enable passengers and staff to dispose of their masks, gloves and other PPE conveniently and safely. This bio-waste is managed by a dedicated team and handed over to a Pollution Control Board-approved vendor and taken away for incineration.

The Airport said that the passenger feedback for the contactless process has been positive. "The objective of the process is to minimise physical contact and enhance passenger throughput," it said.

These sanitisation measures come in light of the highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic which spreads through person-to-person contact. Small droplets from the nose or mouth can spread the virus when they land on objects and surfaces around the person.